Dorking Signal question

[JB25]

Hello all,

My my it has been quite a while since I last posted on here. I have been a train driver for almost 8 years now, and I have signed Dorking for 6 years almost but one thing that has always bugged me, and I can't seem to get an answer from anyone, not even a chap I know who has been on the railway for over 40 years and is a bit of an enthusiast.

Basically at Dorking the Signals in the down direction go from CBK 1 - 7, and in the Up from CBK 38 - 41, you then have two shunt signals CBK 27 (in the siding), and CBK 35 to shunt from the country and into the station / siding.

Basically what I want to know is, what ever happened to CBK 8 - 26, 28 - 34 and 36 - 37?

I'm sure such signals must have existed at some point?

Thanks, Jim.

 

[paul1609]

Just speculation on my part but for many years there was a spur from the Horsham line to the Guildford Line. It was reopened in ww2 to allow goods trains from Guildford and Reading to reach the South Coast without reversing at Redhill (via Christs Hospital and Shoreham).
On the Up approaching Dorking as you pass under the A25 over bridge there is a PW storage area on the right and the line takes a curve to the left. The spur to the Guildford Line went straight ahead there to join the North Downs Line.
Perhaps some of the missing signals are the ones which were needed to control the junction and spur?

 

[JB25]

Thanks for the reply Paul. Literally no idea but it has always made me wonder.

Does anyone know what the signal alias plates are that go through Deepdene and Dorking West? As I don't have a clue.

 

[pdeaves]

Hello all,

My my it has been quite a while since I last posted on here. I have been a train driver for almost 8 years now, and I have signed Dorking for 6 years almost but one thing that has always bugged me, and I can't seem to get an answer from anyone, not even a chap I know who has been on the railway for over 40 years and is a bit of an enthusiast.

Basically at Dorking the Signals in the down direction go from CBK 1 - 7, and in the Up from CBK 38 - 41, you then have two shunt signals CBK 27 (in the siding), and CBK 35 to shunt from the country and into the station / siding.

Basically what I want to know is, what ever happened to CBK 8 - 26, 28 - 34 and 36 - 37?

I'm sure such signals must have existed at some point?

Thanks, Jim.

The numbers coincide with signal box lever numbers. Some of the 'missing' numbers are point numbers (10, 11, 21, 22, 28, 30, 31). 9 is also a shunt signal. There might be some facing point locks or other functions on the remaining missing numbers (and remember that most lever frames had some spare levers, too).

 

[JonathanH]

Thanks for the reply Paul. Literally no idea but it has always made me wonder.

Does anyone know what the signal alias plates are that go through Deepdene and Dorking West? As I don't have a clue.

Signals through Dorking Deepdene and West are RG (Reigate) plates with the changeover to GD (Guildford) at Gomshall - numbers shown here

Live map of Worplesdon and Ash to Portsmouth Harbour

See trains move in real-time on our live map of Worplesdon and Ash to Portsmouth Harbour

www.opentraintimes.com

(Not of course that there are many signals between Reigate and Shalford)

 

[ComUtoR]

Does anyone know what the signal alias plates are that go through Deepdene and Dorking West? As I don't have a clue.

Do you mean the Box prefix letters, 'alias' plates, or the 99x number ?

 

[30907]

https://www.signalbox.org/gallery/s/dorking.php
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to a box diagram available online, but it was (and is) standard signalling practice for Down running signals to be at one end of the frame and Up at the other.

 

[ChrisHogan]

https://www.signalbox.org/gallery/s/dorking.php
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to a box diagram available online, but it was (and is) standard signalling practice for Down running signals to be at one end of the frame and Up at the other.

Correct about the frame; signals on the down on the left hand side of the frame, on the right on the up. A couple of the spare levers were for the goods yard, long gone when I was appointed there in 1975. CBK8 was the IBS on the down at Lodge Farm Crossing, presumably gone after the line south was resignalled.

 

[Deepgreen]

Until the mid-late 80s there were several more stabling sidings at Dorking, where the single siding is now (re-instated a few years ago). Some of the missing ones may have been for those.

 

[ChrisHogan]

Until the mid-late 80s there were several more stabling sidings at Dorking, where the single siding is now (re-instated a few years ago). Some of the missing ones may have been for those.

There were six sidings while I was at Dorking 1975-1977. All six were controlled with a single shunt signal with a shunter in attendance to set the road and authorise the movement. I imagine the shunt signal that controls the surviving siding is the same one today.

 

[John Webb]

https://www.signalbox.org/gallery/s/dorking.php
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to a box diagram available online, but it was (and is) standard signalling practice for Down running signals to be at one end of the frame and Up at the other.

For information, the above website has just been relaunched in a new format and John Hinson, its organiser, comments that it will take some while to transfer box photographs from the old site to the new.

 

[Deepgreen]

There were six sidings while I was at Dorking 1975-1977. All six were controlled with a single shunt signal with a shunter in attendance to set the road and authorise the movement. I imagine the shunt signal that controls the surviving siding is the same one today.

The reinstated (effectively new) siding, does use the same shunt disc, which itself was reinstated and repainted (quite sloppily) for the purpose - see my Flickr shot:

Reinstated Shunt Signal

Dorking. The recently reinstated carriage siding has this disc shunt signal restored to use. Despite the huge clue as to the required width of the red bar on the white disc provided by the faded old bar outline, it's been painted far too narrow.

flic.kr

 

[starlightEXPRESS]

OT: Love your photos Deepgreen. Particularly the one of Tornado on the descent to Dorking!!

 

[Deepgreen]

OT: Love your photos Deepgreen. Particularly the one of Tornado on the descent to Dorking!!

Many thanks for the kind comment!